Electrophysiological investigation of attentional deficits in traumatic brain injury
Date
1996
Authors
Penkman, Louise Carol
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Abstract
Visual event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in two target detection reaction time tasks in order to assess the role of automatic processes in the attentional deficits exhibited by individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBJ). A second objective was to examine the issue of distractibility in this population. A group of 10 TBI subjects were compared to a normal control (NC) group. Subjects were also administered a brief neuropsychological test battery. The TBI group was found to be significantly slower than the NC group in both experimental task conditions. Latency and amplitude of the P3b and the P3a components showed no group or condition effects. The data showed a trend for NC subjects to process automatic and controlled tasks differentially. This trend was not evident for the TBI subjects. The results suggest that further research with larger sample sizes is needed.